Movies of 2013

Oz the Great and Powerful -- B I went and saw this movie because my brother was having a bad day and I wanted to cheer him up so I took him to the movies. I didn't really think it would be spectacular, but I actually really really liked it. I thought it paid a lot of homage to the original Wizard of Oz and could honestly be a direct prequel to that movie. But, believe it or not, I actually want Sam Raimi to remake the Wizard of Oz now.

42 -- A- This movie was great. Chadwick Boseman was really good in it, Harrison Ford was awesome. I'm sure it was a Hollywood version of the story and probably doesn't do justice to what really happened, but but it was really just a solid and enjoyable movie.

Iron Man 3 -- B- It was sort of fun over all, but I was disappointed for reasons detailed in the Iron Man 3 thread. I still think it was the worst of the Avengers franchise films.

Star Trek Into Darkness -- A Best movie I've seen so far this year. Very solidly entertaining.

Fast & Furious 6 -- B+ This franchise has become a lot of fun. I didn't particularly love the original, and two was worse, and three was terrible. But 4-6 have been cool, popcorn action films. No substance, but lots of action and fast cars.

Man of Steel -- B- Well first of all, don't go see new movies in a drive in with your friends. It's not worth it. But as for Man of Steel, it was okay, but not really great. Cool action, but it struggled to balance that action with the origin elements and story development. As a result the pacing was weird and it felt like it wasn't well put together.
 
Gangster Squad - 5/10
Oz: The Great and Powerful - 7/10
Iron Man 3 - 6/10
The Great Gatsby - 8.5/10
Star Trek Into Darkness - 8.5/10
Hangover III - 5.5/10
Fast & Furious 6 - 7.5/10
Man of Steel - 8/10
This Is The End - 9.5/10
 
Before I went to see Man of Steel I went with another friend to see "Frances Ha". I'm not a fan of the show "Girls" but this looked like it was in the same vein as it. Still, I found the trailer quirky and charming and that's exactly what I got. Greta Gerwig deserves, at least, a nomination for an Academy Award. She was so awkward but in a cute way. My only problem was how close she was with her friend, which was actually one of the themes but I couldn't tell if there was supposed to be some kind of lesbian undertone. My friend was even confused by their relationship, which made me feel better because I just thought I didn't get girls. Great date movie though.
 
Oz the Great and Powerful -- B I went and saw this movie because my brother was having a bad day and I wanted to cheer him up so I took him to the movies. I didn't really think it would be spectacular, but I actually really really liked it. I thought it paid a lot of homage to the original Wizard of Oz and could honestly be a direct prequel to that movie. But, believe it or not, I actually want Sam Raimi to remake the Wizard of Oz now.

42 -- A- This movie was great. Chadwick Boseman was really good in it, Harrison Ford was awesome. I'm sure it was a Hollywood version of the story and probably doesn't do justice to what really happened, but but it was really just a solid and enjoyable movie.

Iron Man 3 -- B- It was sort of fun over all, but I was disappointed for reasons detailed in the Iron Man 3 thread. I still think it was the worst of the Avengers franchise films.

Star Trek Into Darkness -- A Best movie I've seen so far this year. Very solidly entertaining.

Fast & Furious 6 -- B+ This franchise has become a lot of fun. I didn't particularly love the original, and two was worse, and three was terrible. But 4-6 have been cool, popcorn action films. No substance, but lots of action and fast cars.

Man of Steel -- B- Well first of all, don't go see new movies in a drive in with your friends. It's not worth it. But as for Man of Steel, it was okay, but not really great. Cool action, but it struggled to balance that action with the origin elements and story development. As a result the pacing was weird and it felt like it wasn't well put together.

Despicable Me 2 -- B This was fun. Not as good as the first, but I laughed a fair bit. I'd say it's worth watching just for the Minion Boyz II Men music video at the end.

RED 2 -- B Another fun sequel that didn't quite live up to the original. But again, it had some fun action and some black humour that made me laugh pretty hard. Above all, I appreciate that they can make an enjoyable action movie with out gore, swearing, and sex - that's pretty rare and it made the movie refreshing for me.

The Wolverine -- A- I really loved this, up until the ending. Jackman is awesome, as are the actors who play Mariko & Yukio. The first two thirds of this movie were pretty much perfect and really did a great job of exploring the heart of Wolverine's character, and the action was cool too. The ending really went off the rails, but not enough to ruin the movie as a whole.
 
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There have a lot of expensive Hollywood flops this summer, including Lone Ranger, After Earth and White House Down, that will cost Hollywood studios a lot this summer:

http://business.time.com/2013/07/18/for-movie-industry-an-epic-summer-for-blockbuster-flops/

It seems like there is a glut of big blockbuster movies and really so much of them being released at the same time is causing a lot of flops, that a lot of those movies are not good. Seriously why did Disney spend 200 million dollars on The Lone Ranger? True Grit cost a fraction of that and was way more successful. A Western should not be that expensive.
 
Oz the Great and Powerful -- B I went and saw this movie because my brother was having a bad day and I wanted to cheer him up so I took him to the movies. I didn't really think it would be spectacular, but I actually really really liked it. I thought it paid a lot of homage to the original Wizard of Oz and could honestly be a direct prequel to that movie. But, believe it or not, I actually want Sam Raimi to remake the Wizard of Oz now.

42 -- A- This movie was great. Chadwick Boseman was really good in it, Harrison Ford was awesome. I'm sure it was a Hollywood version of the story and probably doesn't do justice to what really happened, but but it was really just a solid and enjoyable movie.

Iron Man 3 -- B- It was sort of fun over all, but I was disappointed for reasons detailed in the Iron Man 3 thread. I still think it was the worst of the Avengers franchise films.

Star Trek Into Darkness -- A Best movie I've seen so far this year. Very solidly entertaining.

Fast & Furious 6 -- B+ This franchise has become a lot of fun. I didn't particularly love the original, and two was worse, and three was terrible. But 4-6 have been cool, popcorn action films. No substance, but lots of action and fast cars.

Man of Steel -- B- Well first of all, don't go see new movies in a drive in with your friends. It's not worth it. But as for Man of Steel, it was okay, but not really great. Cool action, but it struggled to balance that action with the origin elements and story development. As a result the pacing was weird and it felt like it wasn't well put together.

Despicable Me 2 -- B This was fun. Not as good as the first, but I laughed a fair bit. I'd say it's worth watching just for the Minion Boyz II Men music video at the end.

RED 2 -- B Another fun sequel that didn't quite live up to the original. But again, it had some fun action and some black humour that made me laugh pretty hard. Above all, I appreciate that they can make an enjoyable action movie with out gore, swearing, and sex - that's pretty rare and it made the movie refreshing for me.

The Wolverine -- A- I really loved this, up until the ending. Jackman is awesome, as are the actors who play Mariko & Yukio. The first two thirds of this movie were pretty much perfect and really did a great job of exploring the heart of Wolverine's character, and the action was cool too. The ending really went off the rails, but not enough to ruin the movie as a whole.

Ender's Game -- B I had fun watching this. Ender is a cool character and I found myself rooting for him as he was facing the odds in combat school. But I think the movie really needed to simplify and focus on the character relationships as the kids bonded under Ender's leadership. I don't know, maybe they just didn't want this movie to be "Harry Potter in Space." I feel like way too many movies try to do too much and don't do any of it well. If they had taken a little bit more time to develop the characters and show the process of Ender gaining the confidence of his classmates then I think I would have liked it more.

Thor: The Dark World -- A I don't really have any complaints about this. I didn't love the first Thor, but this one was much much better. For sure my favourite super hero movie of the year. It was a weird mix of sci-fi and fantasy, taking cues from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Loki was awesome, Darcy was hilarious, everyone else did a great job.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug -- B+ I just realized I never reviewed this last year, so I'm editing this post to include it a year later. This movie sort of made up for what I didn't like in the first one (slow start, not much action) and then had it's own problems (stupid love triangles and silly action to display 3D). But overall, it was still fun.
 
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My disdain for Orson Scott Card would outweigh any desire I'd have to watch Ender's Game.

Political views aside, the man should have been blacklisted for Ultimate Iron Man.
 
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My disdain for Orson Scott Card would outweigh any desire I'd have to watch Ender's Game. Political views aside, the man should have been blacklisted for Ultimate Iron Man.
Click to expand...

Apparently you're not the only one...Ender's Game is doing way below projections in terms of box office for its opening weekend.

I really have no desire to see it even besides my dislike of Card's work (and his opinions), mainly because in my opinion the movie has been marketed quite poorly. The trailers also haven't piqued my interest in seeing the film, which is a perfect death knell.

Maybe once it's on DVD...but probably not.
 
Yeah, I only went to go see it b/c my buddy really loves the book series and wanted to see the movie. He hated it, by the way. But then again, he's a stickler for movie adaptations of books. He didn't like the LOTR movies.
 
Let's see... I haven't seen a whole lot of new movies this year, but...

Iron Man 3: B+
Easily the cleverest of the Marvel movies. Great action sequences, the best character work out of the series (for reasons I've outlined in the movie's thread), and a perfect testament for the genre-bending long-term feasibility of Marvel properties on film.

Man of Steel: C-
Typical Snyder nonsense. Flashy action tethered to an asinine attempt at dramatic depth.

Mud: A+
Possibly the best movie of the year. A friend put it best as saying it was poetry on film. Absolutely gorgeous cinematography.

Only God Forgives: C+
I like Refn's style, and there were some really interesting scenes, but it really didn't hold together for me. And I'm getting sick of the whole "Ryan Babyduck staring deeply at the camera" thing.

The East: B+
This one flew a bit under the radar but it was a really clever thriller that was unique in how it sympathized the "bad guys". It felt a bit like a polemic at points though.

This if the End: A-
Absolutely hilarious. Michael Cera and the Backstreet Boys bit at the end cracked me up, but I'm holding off on calling it the funniest movie of the year until I see The World's End.

The Place Beyond the Pines: A
Neck and neck with Mud for my favorite movie of the year. It's definitely more rewatchable. Fantastic performances, especially from the young actors in the third segment.

Room 237: B-
Inconsistent, but some really fascinating bits.

Elysium: C+
It wore its heart on its sleeve but it looked pretty.

Spring Breakers: B
I.... don't even know what to say. I'll probably come back to this one.


I'm looking forward to seeing Twelve Years a Slave, but I suspect it's going to be difficult to watch. I need to brace myself.

Oh, and despite hearing mixed things, I want to see Blue is the Warmest Color, but I'll probably wait for the DVD.
 
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Last night I watched Pacific Rim, which was a lot cornier than I expected and kind of lame. It was like they tried to make a half-serious version of Transformers. C

Gravity, on the other hand, was fantastic, horrifying, uplifting, and fascinating. I loved every second of it. A+
 
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